18-1 Lady Raiders poised to take league, first seed Div. 2 North spot
By JENNIFER GENTILE
THE MELROSE Lady Raider volleyball team is blowing by competition as they near the end of their regular season. Melrose, at 18-1, should enter Division 2 North playoffs as the #1 seed. (Donna Larsson photo)
MELROSE — The joyride continues for the Melrose Lady Raider volleyball team, who remain undefeated in the Middlesex League at 14-0 and 18-1 overall. Melrose is sweeping league competition, including recent straight set wins over Woburn, Stoneham and Watertown, all the while setting up another league title and probable #1 Division North seeding.
On Monday the Lady Raiders survived a strong attack from the Arlington Catholic Cougars (14-3) in hard fought sets of 25-20, 19-25, 25-19, 23-25 and 16-14. The result was a 3-2 Melrose win that likely affirmed their postseason spot as #1 seed in the Div. 2 North. Given the close contest on Monday it may have been a preview of the two teams who will meet each other in the Div. 2 North finals.
Melrose scored 51 kills in the game, with 16 of them launched by senior captain Meri Lessing, nine apiece from Victoria Crovo and Hannah Mulcahey, eight from Marisa Cataldo, five from Cat Torpey and four from senior captain Allie Nolan.
It was neck and neck in their first set, with Melrose and Arlington Catholic locked at 3, 5 and and 10 until the Cougar’s giant hitter, 6’3 Demi Fogarty, gunned two kills to give the Cougars a 13-11 lead. Melrose’s Meri Lessing helped narrow the gap to 13-12 and Victoria Crovo helped Melrose earn a permanent lead of 15-13 with a kill of her own. Crovo had two critical kills and Melrose’s Allie Nolan lobbed another to give Melrose a 18-13 lead. Melrose hung on to a 25-20 set win thanks to kills by Lessing. Arlington Catholic’s Demi Fogarty came alive in set 2. The junior had 19 kills over the night which helped the Cougars break a set two tie of 9-9 and lift them to advantages of 17-15 and 22-18. Fogarty finished the job for a Cougar set win of 25-19.
Arlington Catholic’s front row was formidable, perhaps as strong as Melrose’s, though Scott Celli’s Lady Raiders had the edge in overall depth and attacking power. That was evident in set three when Amanda Cain’s service run helped bring Melrose to a 15-7 advantage. The Lady Raiders brought the set to 24-14 thanks to kills from Cataldo and Lessing. Despite the Cougars nipping at their heels, Melrose held on to the 25-19 set win. Melrose struggled with service errors in the fourth set, which led to a series of ties between the teams. Despite four kills from Lessing and three from Mulcahey, Melrose fell to the Cougars 23-25, forcing a fifth set, do-or-die scenario.
Allie Nolan and Victoria Crovo proved big for Melrose in the decisive set, helping Melrose bounce back from a 2-0 disadvantage to a 4-2 lead. The Cougars took a 10-8 edge before Melrose went on a four point run to make it 12-10. Arlington Catholic was poised to take the game with ties at 13 and 14. Melrose held on to a slim lead of 15-14 before the ever-poised Lessing delivered the game winner for Melrose.
With Arlington Catholic recently beating Bishop Fenwick, there is a strong likelihood the Lady Raiders and Cougars will meet again. Melrose remains high ranked in the state, third in a recent Boston Globe poll, while Arlington Catholic is under-ranked at #17.
As their regular season draws to a close and playoffs on the horizon, the work of Coach Celli’s Lady Raiders is far from over. On Monday, the team will host a highly anticipated finale against Westboro (12-3, 9-0), a top ranked Div. 2 team who’ve played tough against Notre Dame of Hingham and Barnstable. They bring to the line tough attackers in Gianna Sciolett and Kaylie Doherty.
The game is the last regularly-scheduled home game for Melrose this year. The evening also marks Senior Night. Game time is at 6:30 p.m. at the Melrose Veteran’s Memorial Middle School gym.
